Future Entrate
by Never Draven
Summary: Collaboration fic with Irish Jade, set 7 years in the future.
1. Introduction

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Future Entarte ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ 

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Written by: NeverDraven and IrishJade

(2002)

**Disclaimer: Pokémon and it's characters do not belong to us, and though we'd love to claim them (*watches ND trying to sneak off with Kojiro*) I'm afraid we're going to have to _leave them where they are ! *Ahem* All original characters belong to us, products of our insomniac typing sessions and our inherently twisted nature._**

**Timeline Note, Names & Ages: This fanfic makes use of the original, Japanese character names. It also takes place 7 years in the future, so below is some information you'll find useful !**

Musashi (Jessie) - 26

Kojiro (James) - 26

Nyasu (Meowth) - 12

Domino - 23

Sakaki (Giovanni) - Approx. 50

**Misc: While it's not _required, it really might help if you've seen all the movies, but particularly '_****_Mewtwo Strikes Back', which is the premiere of Domino. For those of you who don't wish to rent it before reading this fic (we'll understand) Domino is Giovanni's youngest Rocket Elite, and his favourite, too._******

**Notes from the Authors:**

**IrishJade: Sometimes, when two authors decide to write together for the first time, there is a bit of trepidation between them until the wrinkles are ironed out. Views of the same character differ from person to person, their grammar styles must align so the writing flows together, even things like common spelling (colour/color). I was thrilled, however, to find that Draven's and my style match almost perfectly -- we think on the same mind track, and that makes for good writing no matter how you look at it.**

**NeverDraven: As Irish said, it's often hard for a person to share her creativity with another since, oftentimes, a writer sees her work as something private and precious that no one should be able to touch, almost how a new mother feels over her firstborn. Continuing in that vein, each writer's view on how a story should progress or how characters should act can be as varied as the tips a new mother would receive from older and more experienced women and each view would be as heatedly supported. Still, despite that, I think we found right off that we meshed like chocolate and peanut butter. Our styles were very close. Our ideas for the plot and characters closer still, not to mention our shared love for angst, suspense, and drama. I can't recall even once that we had any serious disagreements over anything and, most importantly, the entire process of writing was entirely enjoyable. Honestly, I just hope that you, the reader, enjoy this story as much as we enjoyed writing it.**

So, may we present our first collaboration piece, 'Future Entarte'.

_"Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch' entrate."_

"Its days are numbered; the worst has come to the worst."

-- Dante


	2. Prologue

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Prologue 

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            The streetlamps spilled pools of yellow light onto the deserted sidewalks of Ekcruteak City. The shops that lined the street were dark and empty, closed hours ago. The pavement was still damp from the rain earlier that day, and there were puddles along the curbs. But there were no people awake this time of night, the citizens had long since retired. A single Noctowl was perched on a flagpole, eyes slitted as it dozed fitfully. 

The sound of booted feet on the pavement caused the Noctowl to open its eyes. A young man sprinted around the corner with an Ampharos running at his side.

            "Hurry, Ampharos." The young man panted, and the electric Pokémon lengthened its gait in an attempt to run faster. The youth wore a grey and light blue uniform, with the letters NR inscribed in white on the front. The material was ripped in several places, and he wore only one elbow length white glove.

            To their left was a Pokémon Center, normally a safe haven for trainers -- but for him, and his Pokémon, it was a place they dared not go, even now. Behind him he could hear the pounding footsteps of his pursuers, their panting breath as they tried to run him down. He was faster and more agile, but the city was unfamiliar to him, and that put him at a disadvantage.

            Man and Pokémon rounded a corner and into an alleyway at full speed -- only to be faced by a brick wall. It was a dead end. Frantically, he turned, but his pursuers were already there. The uniforms they wore had not changed too much over the last 7 years. It was the same red-on-black that he himself had only to recently worn… 3 months ago ? Had it really been that short a span of time ? He took a step back, and then another, until his heel touched the brick. He was outnumbered, six to one, and their belts were lined with PokéBalls, where as Ampharos was the only defense he had now.

            "Well, Akari…" The leader of the group purred malevolently. He was tall, and built like a Machoke, all muscle. He was, Akari knew, always in charge of the groups that hunted down the Neo-Roketto. His people. His family. "Looks like you have no where else to run."

            Ampharos stepped in front of it's trainer and the red sphere on it's head crackled with electricity. One of the others, a young woman with dark hair, stepped forward and aimed a rifle at the Pokémon. The light from the streetlamps illuminated the block-letter 'R' on her shirt. Without a twinge of remorse, she pulled the trigger…

            Akari closed his eyes, not wishing to see...

            … and embedded a tranquilizer dart in it's neck. The toxin in the dart worked in seconds and Ampharos sank to the pavement in a daze. Akari stepped forward in defense of his Pokémon but more rifles were pointed at him -- and he was not sure these ones were carrying tranquilizer darts.

            "Are you going to come with us peacefully, Akari, or must we sedate you, too ?"

            "I-I...."  The trapped Neo-Roketto choked over his words like a child choking on a hard candy, as his dark eyes fled quickly over each form. It took the sight of his unconscious Pokémon on the pavement before him and the ever-present knowledge of his Roketto-family to give him voice. His eyes stern, he raised his glance from Ampharos to the eyes of the burly man in the lead. "I'm not going anywhere ! Let me pass or… or…"

            "Or you'll what ?" The muscled leader mocked. "Stand there and stutter at us ?" A wave of laughter rippled through the small group. "Get his Pokémon."

            One of the uniformed grunts pulled a PokéBall from his belt. It was the blue and black of an Ultra Ball, but this wasn't a regular Ball. It's sole purpose was to override the capture mechanism of a Pokémon's usual Ball. "Capture Ball, go !" the grunt shouted, and Ampharos disappeared in a beam of red light.

            "Ampharos !" Akari called as he watched with wide eyes as his Pokémon disappeared into their hands. His hand outstretched toward the long-gone Pokémon, he stood as still as a statue for quite a long time before turning his anger-hardened eyes to the one that had thrown the Ball. An inarticulate scream rushing past his lips, Akari threw himself at the unnamed grunt in a whirl of fists. Even if he couldn't fight his way out, at the very least he'd give the thief something to think about.

            His sudden attach caught the grunt by surprise, and he landed several dead-on blows before the others managed to pull him off. Akari felt the icy tip of a tranquilizer dart prick his neck, and everything started swimming almost immediately. The leader hauled him off the grunt, who remained sprawled on the pavement, dazed and bloody, missing at least one visible tooth now.

            "Hey, what's going on down there ? Do you know what time it is ?" An irritable voice, the speaker unseen, called from one of the numerous balconies across the street. 

            The leader cursed under his breath. "You two, get the traitor. You and you, get Kiron." He barked, and then to the female with the rifle, "Nami, go ahead and alert Domino we're on our way. This place will be crawling with police soon."

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            Sound was slowly returning to Akari, but as far as he could tell, that was the only sense that was working. As consciousness trickled back, he realized he was blindfolded, gagged, and bound so tightly that he couldn't feel his fingers. "Mmmph..." he mumbled, trying to breath through the gag.

            "Good, you're awake." A dismayingly familiar voice purred.

            "Domino !" He gasped through the rough material of the stuff currently filling his mouth or he would have, should he have had the ability to speak properly. Really, it came out more as a muffled croak that could rather easily be misread. Still, finding himself well-confined with a woman that he had fled only a short while before, Akari found a deep unease sitting like a hot piece of lead in his stomach. Only too well, he knew what could be coming, but he was determined to face it as best as he could.

            "Of course it's me." Domino said lightly, apparently understanding Akari's garbled exclamation. She pulled the gag out of his mouth but left the blindfold. Then the tone of her voice went from jovial to deadly. "Did you really think you could _run from ****__me ?" she hissed._

            "I didn't think that it would be so hard..." Akari replied stoically in a brave voice that even he hardly recognized. Still, he was determined that he wouldn't quaver, even in the face of such potential damage. "After all, it seems that you wouldn't bother with a lowly one like myself. Sent your grunts out to get me, eh ? Guess that your attention has to be focused on manipulating Sakaki, right ?"

            "Sakaki," Domino said, her voice hard as diamonds, "Is a blind fool all too willing to be led. Instead of pushing Roketto Dan forward, he squandered it's potential away for 7 years. Maybe the idiot was finally starting to grow a conscience. But **_I am the one bringing Roketto Dan into the future. And the future is _****_not," she said, spitting out the words, "Your precious Neo-Roketto."_**

            "Then what is the future, Domino ?" He spat angrily. Though he had been quite new to the faction group, Neo Roketto had still become quite important to him; so important, in fact, that he'd even die to protect it. "Do you see the future as torturing anyone who stands against you ? Or maybe just killing anyone whom you dislike ? Already, your own beloved Roketto is crumbling away beneath you, if you'd take the time to notice..."

            "_Sakaki's Roketto is crumbling. __Mine is as strong as ever. And, with your most useful contribution of Neo-Roketto secrets, we will be stronger yet." Domino said smugly._

            "Tch. Your ambition blinds you. Your own Roket--" Upon realizing the implications of Domino's latter words, Akari found the words that he had been meaning to speak dead on his lips. Behind the blindfold, his eyes widened but he allowed no trace of this to touch his voice. "My contribution of secrets ? I'd rather die than tell you anything !"

            "My dear Akari," Domino said comfortingly, "I won't kill you for your misguided beliefs. In fact, I'm willing to adopt you back into the fold, as it were." She smiled, though he could not see it. "You'll just need to undergo a little bit of modification first, that's all..."

            "M-modifications...." Akari echoed her words solemnly and, at once, their implications became clear to him. No, he wouldn't die; he'd face something worse. He would become a mindless slave to Domino's vision of the future and, worse still, he'd become a traitor to those who had taken him in. Anger once again showed in his voice once he had found the will to respond. "I'd rather death than to be taken back into your murderous fold ! I'll never be one of your mindless drones ! Never !"

            "Akari." Domino said, leaning over to whisper in his ear, "_You never had a choice."_


	3. Chapter 1

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Chapter 1 : 

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            "Yet _another wasted day." _

Musashi threw a dead leaf into their tiny campfire and groaned, watching as it shriveled into nothingness. Surrounded by trees on three sides, a view overlooking the sleeping village of Ochre, the fire did nothing to light past the small circle in which they sat. Overhead, a thin veil of clouds hid the stars, and made the moonlight hazy.

            "What d'you expect ?" Kojiro yawned as he idly used a thin twig to draw vague pictures in the soft ground by his feet. "You didn't really think that she'd give us a real job, did you ? Still, it'd be nice if we actually had something to do..."

            "If I hadn't had to wake you up to eat lunch, I'd agree." Musashi snapped.

            "Well, what do you expect ?" He repeated mildly, just slightly narrowed his eyes at her. "I spent all morning watching that old man talking to the stones in his garden. I don't see how that wouldn't put anyone to sleep..."

            "Kojiro's got a point, Musashi." Nyasu commented from his own place by the fireside, "'Dis job stinks."

            "I know it does." Musashi said, throwing another handful of leaves into the flames. They glowed like fragile embers. "Things sure have gone downhill."

            "You can say that again..." Kojiro sighed softly and, after throwing his twig to the fire, he lightly cupped his cheek in his hand. Dully, he watched the flickering body of the fire but his attention was far from it. "I mean, things weren't always great under Sakaki, but at least then we'd get to do interesting things. Now all we get to do is sit and watch perhaps the most boring town in the entire world..."

            "At least we ain't gettin' blasted off all the time." Nyasu said, trying to lighten the moods of his companions.

            Musashi looked up as though remembering something. "Oh, did you see ? Rasu's back at HQ again. Remember how much he hated Domino ? Now he's going around and practically telling everyone she's a goddess."

            "Mm. I know that only too well..." His expression turning somewhat sullen, Kojiro offered another heavy sigh as he turned his glance somewhere off to the side. "The other day, he had me cornered and he wouldn't stop talking about Domino and how much better she is than Sakaki ever was. I had to distract him with a Pokéball. Fortunately it was empty, but still..."

            "Well, ya know why it's like that, don't'cha ?" Nyasu offered as he eyed first his male companion, then the female. 

            Two equally curious gazes turn on the feline Pokémon.

            "Sheesh ! Don't tell me that ya didn't know !" Obviously enjoying the attention, the Pokémon rolled his large eyes and made quite a face. "Don't either of ya listen to anything that's said 'round base ?" 

            "Spit it out, Nyasu, what do you know ?" Musashi said, curiosity making her sharper than she'd intended.

            "Alright, alright. Sheesh !" With another roll of the eyes, Nyasu finally consented to telling what he had heard. "Well, ya both **_do know about the mutant Pokémon, right ?"_**

            Both his human companions nodded; they had seen the 'altered' Pokémon in the labs at HQ. Supposedly enhanced versions of their original specimens, many looked like completely new Pokémon. Stronger, faster, and apparently with dispositions worse than that of a brooding Gyrados.

            "Well, I had the chance to talk with one while ya both were busy goofing off." The feline admitted with no undue lack of pride. "It had some pretty interesting things to say, too..."

            "You never told us that before." Musashi said, sounding vaguely miffed.

            "Of course he didn't..." Kojiro added in a faintly annoyed tone. "He didn't have a chance to show off before now."

            "Show off ?!" Nyasu exclaimed in response to the male Roketto's comment.  Dropping into something of a huff, he quickly crossed his arms and then turned his back on the two. "Fine. If ya want to be like that, then ya'll just have to find out about it on yer own !"

            Musashi shot her partner a look that plainly said, '_Coddle him... at least until he spills the beans.' Aloud, she sighed and simply said, "Nyasu, we were only kidding."_

            "I'm sorry for saying that, Nyasu..." Kojiro sighed in what he hoped was at least a somewhat believable tone. Having caught his partner's look as well as having known Nyasu for many years, it was pretty plain that he'd have to play along. "I didn't mean to say that you show off at all. Really, I only said it because I was jealous that you found the information instead of me. I couldn't imagine what we'd do without you..."

            "Well....." Stretching this word over many syllables, the feline Pokémon again turned back to his two human companions. Glancing from one to the other, he soon broke into a toothy grin. "I suppose that I can forgive ya both, since ya finally managed to show some good manners....."

            Rather than chance his claming up again, either human made comment to that.

            "Anyway, I managed ta talk with one of 'da mutants and it was tellin' me about 'dis one trainer 'dat it had.." Nyasu continued as if the little argument had never happened. "Apparently, it's trainer had run off to join 'dose Neo-Roketto people but Domino caught 'im. Know what she did 'den ?"

            "You're the one telling the story, Nyasu, not us." Musashi said, trying to sound as unimpatient as possible.

            "Ya, I know 'dat." The feline responded as coolly as he could. Still, even Musashi's softly disguised impatience couldn't derail him now that he had a captive audience. "Anyway, it told me 'dat Domino had brainwashed it's trainer so 'dat he'd come back to her side ! After, of course, she got some good information from him."

            Musashi stared in astonishment at the Pokémon, apparently trying to decide if he was telling the truth. She looked at Kojiro, "_Brainwashed ?" she repeated incredulously._

            "Brainwashed..." Like his partner, it seemed that Kojiro just couldn't quite grasp the idea that Domino would be doing this. Sure, she was evil and ambitious, but someone who'd go around brainwashing people? His expression easily showing his surprise, he glanced first at Nyasu then at Musashi. "Though, you know, it _would explain Rasu's sudden changes."_

            "Of course it would !" The feline Pokémon responded in an exasperated tone. "Why else would everyone who left Domino suddenly be singin' her praises ? Didn't ya think 'dat was a little odd ?"

            "Rasu was a little odd to begin with." Musashi reminded them.

            "Mm. That's certainly true..." Kojiro nodded, then again he turned to Nyasu. "How do you know that this mutant Pokémon was telling you the truth, anyway ? I mean, it couldn't it just have been lying ?"

            "Ya don't believe me ?" His expression mirroring their earlier surprise, Nyasu sadly shook his head, a rather good copy of a mournful look touching his expression. "Ya think I wouldn't be able ta tell if it had been lyin' ?"

            "It's not that." Musashi quickly assured him, in an effort to keep him talking. "It's just... it seems a little extreme, don't you think ?"

            "Yea. It's very extreme." The feline Pokémon agreed readily. "But it's also just her style. I mean, ya know that she's just usin' Sakai until she's strong enough on her own, right ? And d'ya really think that she'd be glad that so many of her own are runnin' off on her ?"

            "Everyone knows Sakaki is just a puppet anymore. Maybe she brainwashed _him, too." Musashi mused._

            "Brainwashed Sakaki ?" Kojiro seemed to ponder on this for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "I'd really hate to think that... but it does almost seem true. How else would he let his power slip away like that ?"

            "So you'se two believe me, then ?" Nyasu asked expectantly.

            "I guess so..." Kojiro nodded with slight uncertainty. Sure, he had never been a fan of Domino, but to think that she was actually doing those sort of things really... rather scared him. Trying to keep this from his expression, he glanced across at Musashi. "What about you ? What do you think ?"

            "We believe, Nyasu." Musashi assured him, holding out her gloved hands to the fire to chase away a chill that had nothing to do with the cool night air. "I just don't like where this whole thing is heading, that's all."

            "Well, we _do have a choice, ya know..." The feline reminded them upon noticing their glum and spooked expressions. "Ya both know about __them, right ?"_

            "Neo-Roketto ?" Musashi said, knowing exactly the 'them' Nyasu spoke of, "Sure, everybody knows about them. Domino's always ranting and raving about something to do with them, it seems like."

            "What about them, though ?" Kojiro inquired softly as he glanced curiously at the Pokémon. After a moment, realization dawned on his features and, with a soft chuckle, he slowly shook his head. "You're not going to suggest what I think you are, are you ?"

            "Well, it'd be better than working for _her." Nyasu said bluntly._

            "Unless we got caught. Then... we'd end up just like Rasu." Musashi said, letting that implication hang in the air.

            "Then again..." Though he had winced slightly at the unsaid implications of Musashi's words, Kojiro couldn't help but add a bit of optimism to the fray. "... if we do stay, then we're bound to keep getting jobs like this one."

            As one, the three friends sighed.


End file.
